SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Sept 5 – Michael
Hild was
arraigned for
fraud on Live
Well
Financial's
reverse
mortgages and
home equipy
conversion
mortgages by
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Ronnie Abrams
on September
5. It was a
routine
proceeding
except that
this alleged
white collar
criminal was
allowed to
travel
nationwide,
seemingly
automatically,
while other
defendants in
the SDNY are
restricted to
the Southern
and Eastern
Districts of
New York.

The same
"travel
nationwide"
pass was
given, for
example, the
banking
fraudster and
Manafort
lender Stephen
Calk. Why this
two tier
system of
justice?

The trial was
set for
October 13,
2020; the
government
described 3
million
documents but
said that most
were from Live
Well so Hild
had access to
them. There is
a $500,000
bond, signing
for Mrs Laura
Hill facilitated
from afar
unlike so
often in the
SDNY
Magistrates
Court. There
was joking
between the
Assistant US
Attorney and
Hild's lawyer.
All among
friends,
predatory
lender with
nationwide
travel and
facilitation
of bond
signing. The
case is US v
Hild,
19-cr-602
(RA). A
restraining
order is
supposed to
become
available,
with bank
account
numbers
redacted.
Inner City
Press will
continue to
follow this
case.

As if in
another world:
In reporting
on the
sometimes
depressing
litany of
young adults
jailed in the
U.S. Federal
courts, with
sentences
repeated
extended by
violations of
Supervised
Release, one
hears from
time to time
of the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York's
Young Adult
Opportunity
Program. Inner
City Press
heard it
mentioned on
September 3 by
SDNY
Magistrate
Judge Sarah
Netburn, that
there was an
open meeting
later in the
day.

Nowhere
on the SDNY
website was
the location
of the meeting
given, but a
defense
attorney
pointed Inner
City Press in
the right
direction, in
40 Foley
Square.

There, Judge
Netburn and
District Judge
Ronnie Abrams,
fresh off
presiding over
what some
called the
homeless
beat-down
trial of
Sargeant
Cordell Fitts,
took on roles
strikingly
different than
at sentencings
and changes of
plea. A
baker's dozen
of program
participants
sat in a
circle
testifying, in
the manner of
group therapy,
about how
their month of
August had
gone.

For most it
was good: a
man had
apologized to
a woman for
his behavior,
another was
making money
from his
livery cab
even while
going home to
take care of
his daughter.
A woman had
gotten engaged
and nearly all
were in
school. One
had been and
perhaps will
again be a
Columbia
University
teacher's
aide, working
now at a
non-profit.

The judges
gave each of
them
encouragement,
extracting
life lessons
such as to not
hang out with
the same old
crowd, to not
get flumoxed
by the ups and
downs of
income.

After Hild's
arraignment on
September 5 we
have to wonder
and ask if the
participants
are subject to
travel
restrictions,
and if these
are SDNY and
EDNY unlike
the alleged
predatory
lender's
nationwide
pass.

To the two
graduating on
September 3,
good luck was
wished. Cases
reactivate and
it is up to
each
defendant's
lawyer to make
a pitch to the
Assistant US
Attorneys on
how to
proceed.

Of
course there
were
challenges: a
school too far
away from
home, a month
so bad its
experiencer
asked to speak
to the judges
in private
afteward.
(Inner City
Press left,
and is also
not
identifying
participants
in this
story). But it
was a welcome
relief to the
drum beat of
sentencings
and violations
of supervised
release. There
should be more
or it.

While
many even most
cases in the
Magistrates
Court of the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York are
sealed or have
case numbers
given only
later, on September
3
Magistrate
Judge Sarah
Netburn
herself
expressed
concern about
unanswered
questions
about a defendant
whose name
appeared to be
Mr Foreman, a
citizen of
Guyana and
also perhaps
of the United
States, either
living with
his mother or
not. He is
charged with
wire fraud and
aggrevated
identity
theft.

Given
all these
uncertainties,
Judge Netburn
said no
release until
conditions
met. She also
suggested that
his appointed
lawyer look
into the Young
Adult
Opportunity
Program she
runs along
with SDNY
District Judge
Ronnie Abrams.
Later on
September 3,
Inner City
Press did look
into the
program, see
above.

Back on
August 30
Magistrate
Judge Parker was
reading out
the bond
conditions for
a defendant
called Soto
when suddenly
the government
and Federal
Defender
Christopher
Flood asked
for a
whispered
sidebar.

There
was no court
reporter, and
Inner City
Press the only
media in the
Mag court
could not
hear. Suddenly
the bail deal
was off, and
the bond
proceeding
continued
until
September 5 in
front of Judge
Parker. Soto
is charged
with selling
guns, and said
he planned to
work for
Amazon while
he said being
already
employed as a
teachers aid.
Was this what
the whispering
was about?
Murky mag
court indeed.

Even in
the Mag court,
case law
requires that
there be one
the record
findings about
the need to
defeat the
presumption of
press and
public access
to all facets
of such
proceedings.
Inner City
Press will
have more on
this.

Earlier
in the week
affable Judge
Parker
instructed a
defendant
named Mr.
Patterson who
was being released
to stay away
from the Gun
Hill Road area
in The Bronx.

The
scope of that
neighborhood
was not
defined; his
assigned CJA
lawyer as
we've noted
before is at
the same time
representing
the government
in a criminal
contempt case.
Inner City
Press will
have more on
this.

Inner City Press
will continue to cover this
and other SDNY and 2nd Circuit
cases - watch this site, and there is
more on
Patreon, here.

***

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